One thing you are constantly told throughout high school is how fast it goes by. I never believed that as an underclassmen because of how distant graduation seemed, but now that I’m coming face to face with the end of my high school career, all I can think about is how fast it went by. When you’re a freshman high school feels like something that never ends. The world beyond it seems almost incomprehensible. Knowing this now, I truly understand just how important it is to live in the moment and realize that nothing is forever. Though a majority of a student’s high school experience can be seen as somewhat repetitive, it is critical to live for the good in every day and only focus on the positives.

One thing I want to make very clear is that not everything in high school is good. In a lot of ways many aspects aren’t good at all. The workload often is often far too much for young adults dealing with sports, jobs, and other after school activities. Many classes are far too stressful for any real value they could provide. That being said, there are still many positive aspects of high school. One great example of this is the people. The friends you make in high school make all of the stress and homework worth it. Nothing helps in making a bad situation better than joking about it with others going through a similar experience. I also think it’s necessary to remember while going through everything that you are not in it alone. It can seem hard to reach out and ask for help but once you do it, you realize it’s not as scary as it looks.

Another big aspect of high school is the teachers. They can turn a bad class into a great one and vice versa. I can’t stress enough on how important having good relationships with your teachers is. When you are able to talk openly with your teachers about what’s going on with not only school work, but personal life as well, the class becomes exponentially better. You really never know just how understanding someone is until you open up to them.

Overall, high school really is what you make it. Everything that happens to you throughout the four years you are here is a result of the choices you make. You can choose exactly how well you do in any class, sport, or extracurricular activity. I would advise everyone to push themselves past what you think to be your limits. You’ll never truly know what you’re capable of unless you give it your all. More often than not, you’ll do better than you ever thought you could. It’s also important to try as many new things as possible. You’re only young once so it’s good to remember to have fun and not take everything so seriously. No one really knows what they’re doing no matter where you go and for that reason mistakes are something that should be embraced instead of feared.